5 Steps To Get Your Finances In Order This Year

This post is a part of a social shopper marketing insight campaign with Pollinate Media Group and Payoff, but all my opinions are my own. #pmedia #payoffmindset #whatsyourpayoff http://my-disclosur.es/OBsstV

My husband and I are in our mid-thirties and we hope to one day be close to debt free. What would be even better is to win the lottery, pay off all monies owed and live the good life. Ok, back to reality!

We always seem to find things that we think would be fun to play with, do or make life a little bit easier. But how do we live the good life, without financial stress?

You know that feeling when you FINALLY pay off a bill in its entirety?! We recently paid off my car and the feeling after that final payment went through was that of pure joy. So, how in the world can we get that feeling of pure joy quicker than every 5 years?

Here are 5 ways to get your finances in order this year:

1. Take a Look at Your Spending: If you just take a look at your spending patterns over the last few months, you will be able to tell if you got out of hand. Did you go overboard on holiday gifts? How about dining out? Perhaps those Starbucks trips ended up being an almost everyday thing? Revisit your budget, see where you may have gotten careless and try to eliminate those unnecessary expenses that have become habit. Often times we just spend without thinking and don’t realize how much extra we really throw away at luxuries we don’t really need. Taking a look at our spending habits will give us more insight into where our money is going.

2. Get Your Credit Report: You can get credit report FREE now at AnnualCreditReport.com. Taking a peek at your credit report will let you know where you are at for the new year. If your credit history needs some improvement, this is the year to start getting your numbers on the right track.

3. Review Your Balances/Create A Strategy: Take the time to review your balances. If you have extra cash in the bank, it isn’t necessary a bad idea to make a large payment towards paying your debt down.

4. Set Up Auto Pay: What has made it tremendously easy for my husband and I is automating our bills. The more you can automate, the easier your finances will be. You can download a free bill payment app that will help you pay your bills on time and maintain a regular savings plan.

5. Payoff.com:Payoff.com is a company in the YOU business-get rid of your credit card balances so you can move forward in your life and achieve your dreams. While my husband and I were looking through our existing debt, I checked out Payoff.com (along with my cat) to see how I can realistically get our debt in one spot. With Payoff.com you go through an application process (which doesn’t affect your credit score, by the way) in which you can get approved for a loan to pay off all of your debt at once. When you use Payoff.com, it’ll help you to become more financially knowledgeable and you will be so happy that you will be able to achieve your dreams. What I love about the website is the chat help. Brandon helped me with questions that I had regarding the Payoff.com application process and made it so much easier to understand what they have to offer.

And finally, have a positive attitude! A positive attitude will get you far. You won’t be in debt forever as long as you are aware of where your money is going and have a plan of attack to keep that money going where it NEEDS to go.

What are some of the ways you manage your finances? What makes your life easier when it comes to saving money?

These are some good tips! The one thing we don’t do is anything on auto-pay. I’ve had companies accidentally take multiple payments out at once. And let me tell you, when the mortgage comes out twice, it can REALLY cause some issues LOL

I’m trying really hard to keep my finances in order, too. I recently quit my job and had a sudden added amount of expenses because I moved apartments.. thanks for the tips! I’ll try to follow them by step and get things back in order.

Hi Ronnie! We’d love to offer you some friendly advice and help you get back on track! We’re not a loan company, we’re a financial empowerment company 🙂 Please feel free to call us at 1-800-878-0901 or you can live chat with one of our Customer Success Advocates right on our website: https://www.payoff.com/

Want to get out of debt? Track every penny, every month and convert to cash right now. Cut up credit cards and don’t use debit either. Using cash will give you a whole new appreciation for money, one you won’t get with out it. I paid off 50K. I did it without a loan. I don’t recommend taking a loan to pay off debt. I understand why it might feel like a good idea but I don’t think it’s a good idea. I’ve helped so many people get out of debt. There’s no magic bullet it just takes time patience and establishing good money habits. You’ll do it too!

Hi Donna! Financial freedom is so much brighter than the burden of credit card debt. We’re happy to help your son any time! Please have him call us at 1-800-878-0901 or he can live chat with a Customer Success Advocate right on our website: https://www.payoff.com/. Have a great weekend!

These are great tips to get the financial plans to perfection, as initial planning helps for a smooth progress all through the year. PayOff sounds like a great option & I would love to signup & see how it works. Thanks for sharing.

The only thing we have set up on auto pay now is for the mortgage. We pay everything else manually online. Because my husband has 2 different employers with different paydays it was just easier that way so we weren’t getting an auto pay taken out when the deposit hadn’t come through. I think the bank got tired of us asking to reverse the OD fee.

We are working on getting our credit cards taken care of. Hopefully we’ll be able to make a giant dent with our income tax. Then we can work on paying extra on our car notes. Somewhere in there we have to tackle the school loans. His are minimal, I went to grad school so I owe a LOT. lol